From the dreamtime: The story of Maya-Mayi

The stars we now call the Pleiades were once seven beautiful sisters called the Maya-Mayi. Every man who ever saw them wished that he could marry one of them.

One day the seven sisters were using their digging sticks to open up a nest of wood ants to eat the larvae. When they had done so they sat down to enjoy the feast, but they didn't realize they were being spied upon by a warrior, Warrumma.

Lonely Wurrumma had set out to look for a wife. He came into the camp and the sisters invited Wurrumma to share their campfire and meal. Next morning, Wurrumma left, pretending to continue his journey, but his plan was to capture a couple of the sisters and take them as wives.

Warrumma crept close to the sisters. He quietly reached out his hand and took two of their digging sticks and then retreated to his hiding place.

The five sisters who could find their sticks continued to gather food, but the two who couldn't find theirs stayed behind. Warrumma jumped up from his hiding place and seized both girls around their waists, holding them firmly. They screamed loudly but no one heard. They struggled but Warrumma was so strong. When they had finally stopped screaming and struggling, Warrumma explained that he was lonely and that he would take care of them and that he wanted to marry them.

The two girls travelled with him, but always looked for a chance to escape. One day their chance came.... Wurrumma had stopped for lunch. ”Strip some bark from those two trees,” he ordered, “so I can build a fire.”

So each sister swung her stone axe into a tree. The axes stuck fast, and two trees began to grow. They quickly rose higher and higher with the sisters clinging to their axes until the trees had reached heaven.

Then the other five sisters appeared in the sky and helped the two in the trees to climb up and join them amidst the clouds. Those seven sisters turned into stars in the night sky, which are called the Mayamayi by the Australian Aborigines.

If you look closely at the constellation, you may see the two freed sisters, just arriving at their sister’s camp in the sky.